Illinois Public Media

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Illinois Public Media

Beaman Files Suit Claiming He Was Framed for Lockmiller Murder

January 27, 2010

Attorneys for Alan Beaman say their federal civil rights suit against McLean County, the Town of Normal, prosecutors and police will hold those public officials accountable for misconduct. The Illinois Supreme court overturned Beaman's murder conviction a year ago in the 1993 death of Jennifer Lockmiller.

Locke Bowman of the MacArthur Justice Center says Normal Police Detective Tim Freesemeyer and Assistant States Attorney Jim Souk conspired against Beaman in knowingly not sharing evidence of another suspect and verification of Beaman's alibi....

"They hid that information from Mr. Beaman and his defense lawyers", says Bowman. "That was intentional, it was deliberate, it was knowing"

Jeff Urdangen of Northwestern University Law School says it has always troubled him that as a prosecutor, Souk used the Beaman case to further his career....

"Laminated copies of news clippings, boasting of his success in convicting Alan Beaman, was a part of his most aggressive campaign to gain a judgeship," says Urdangen.

Souk is a circuit judge in McLean County.

Alan Beaman says he wants to make McLean County a more just place. Beaman says he is still processing things and trying to re-create his life, after serving 13 years of a 50 year prison sentence.

"There's a lot from my previous 13 years that don't apply to life now", says Beaman. "And I have to kind of sort through and figure out again who I am. It's a process I enjoy going through. And I'm looking forward to growing as a person."

Beaman, now 37, lives in Rockford. He says he works part time at a theater, about five odd jobs, and does snow removal.

Town of Normal and McLean County officials have declined comment about the federal suit which seeks unspecified damages. Two other pending cases including a petition for clemency and a ruling of wrongful conviction have a damage cap of 200-thousand dollars. The new case has no such limit.